INGRID HÄBLER - what a reference for Viennese classic and Schubert!

Ingrid Haebler was born in Vienna (Austria) on June 20, 1929. She studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna Music Academy, Geneva Conservatory (Nikita Magaloff) and privately in Paris with Marguerite Long. She toured worldwide, but is best known for a series of recordings from the 1950s to 1980s. Her complete recording of Mozart's piano sonatas for the Denon label are still regarded as among the finest sets. Haebler also recorded all of Mozart's piano concertos (almost all of them twice) - often with her own cadenzas - and all of Schubert's sonatas. She was one of several Austrian musicians to experiment early with period instruments, having recorded music of J. C. Bach on a fortepiano. Her recordings of Beethoven with violinist Henryk Szeryng are particularly prized.

Mozart: Sonata in A-minor, KV 310

Schubert: Sonata in A-major, D 664

Who knows Youra Guller?

If there were no legendary recordings, we know so little about Youra Guller's life, we could almost think she did not exist at all.

French pianist of Russian-Romanian origin began her music career with the age of five. At the age of nine, she enrolled at the Paris Conservatory, where she studied under the mentorship of Isidor Pilipp. During the study years, she met composer Milhaud (and other members of "Les Six") and regularly performed his works. After having graduated, she performed in many tours, with an emphasis on Chopin's music. In 1941 she had run from Paris to Marseilles (because of the war). There she met Clara Haskil. Even more than that. The facts say that she was responsible for helping Clara Haskil escape out of Nazi clutches (though she was of Jewish descent herself and therefor in grave danger). In the post-war period Youra Guller suffered from ilness, that is the reson she moved away for eight years. Sources say (though we don't know for sure) that she had been living somewhere in Shanghai or in Bali. In 1955, she appeared in London, from where she began to return to the stage boards. The year 1971 is known for her debut in New York's Carnegie Hall. In 1975 she made important and one of the few recordings for the Nimbus label.

Such as the rest of her life - elusive and wrapped in fog, the end was like that aswell. Youra Guller ended her journey (one can not know precisely) in 1980 or 1981, possibly in Geneva, Paris or London.